Art-wise, I started working on a piece that centers around my wishes for our future home, kind of a collection of things I'd like to have, such as bees, a garden, woods where I can find/grow mushrooms, etc. I didn't take a pic of my progress because so far I'm just doing light pencil lines. I'll go back over those with a Micron pen and then apply some watercolor.

We are going to France in Sept for a month and will go property hunting, even though we are not ready to buy. With my discontent* with life in Egypt and the upcoming trip, I'm in full "dream about the future" mode.

What have you been up this week on the creative front?

_____________(* Over a week ago, I started a long post about this. But felt too blah to post it. Long story short: I don't enjoy the life in this city. Too dirty, too noisy, no "green" places to hang out unless you pay for them...just a lot of different things.

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Envisioning a home is an important kind of work. How much woods do you need for mushrooms? I have mushrooms in my lawn, but I've never looked for any in the adjacent woods. How would one go about growing some?

As for Egypt, I think green is very important for humans, perhaps especially for children. How does J. feel about Cairo?

If you want to grow mushrooms, you don't even need woods. :P I've seen (on the net) them grown in laundry baskets. Mostly you need to make sure that (for mushrooms that need a forest-like environment) your fungi have enough shade and moisture. One method of growing mushrooms is drilling holes into logs and filling them with pre-inoculated plugs. Here is a link to a book about it: http://kk.org/cooltools/archives/11739 (Haven't read it but may try to get my hands on it).

Green is so important! I thought Tirana was bad on the no-green front and didn't want J getting assigned to Albania, but after living in Cairo, I now realize Tirana wasn't that bad after all... Yes to what you say about children. S is always wanting to get out, needing to have space to roam.

I think the lack of green space would drive me batty very quickly. I don't mind if I need to share it with other people, I just need a little there. Of course, I also appreciate having peace and quiet and a space to myself (or my family) when I can get it.

What I really hate is the whole "being in it for the money" thing, but we totally are. We are counting on the savings from this posting to be able to get a dream project off the ground. We need to stick it out. :-< But one does think: Is the great (assuming it is) future worth a hellish (please allow the exaggeration) present?

I'm working hard to change my focus and my attitude, to see a "brighter side," but the truth is that it is very difficult. Like Bonnie said, we NEED green. I always knew that, but now I know it in a way that I wish I didn't. :(